As the world's leading provider of confidential insider information from 1979 to 2000, Auto Industry Newsletter has now re-emerged by popular request to provide chief executives with the insight necessary to meet today's challenges.
Editor: John Mortimer

Wednesday, 8 March 2017

China and US markets bolsters JLR

JaguarLandRover (JLR), the UK's leading manufacturer of premium luxury
vehicles reported its best February retail sales figure of 40,978 vehicles, up
nine per cent on February 2016, driven by strong sales performances in China
and North America.

The company sold 88,671 vehicles in the
first two months of 2016, six per cent up on the same period in the prior year.

Retail sales for
the month of February were up year-on-year across many key regions: 40 per cent
in China, 16 per cent in North America and 14 per cent in the UK. Europe and
other overseas markets were down two per cent and seven per cent respectively
year-on-year.

In the first two
months of 2017, Jaguar has sold 26,152 vehicles, up 78 per cent while Land
Rover’s sales were 62,519, up nine per cent.

Jaguar had its
best February performance, delivering 12,203 vehicles, up 81 per cent on the
previous year, due to continued solid sales of the XE (3,309 vehicles) and the
all-new F-PACE (5,323 vehicles). China recorded outstanding year-on-year growth
of 118 per cent.

Land Rover retailed
28,775 vehicles in the month, down 6 per cent year-on-year. Best-sellers for
the month were the Discovery Sport, retailing 8,357 vehicles, the Range Rover
Evoque, retailing 7,806 vehicles and the Range Rover, with retails of 4,790 in
the month. Sales have now begun for the all-new Discovery and this month Land
Rover launched a new addition to the Range Rover family, the Velar.

Boost for women in
engineering

Meanwhile, in an attempt
to reverse the image of women in engineering JLR had teamed with Getty Images
as more people than ever are searching images of women in science, technology,
engineering and maths (STEM) careers, yet results are often out-dated and don’t
reflect today’s exciting and varied roles. This partnership aims to change
that.

Pictures
released today by JLR and Getty Images show women in a variety of STEM roles
from aerodynamics to cyber and audio engineering. They are intended to
encourage more women to apply for these jobs by accurately portraying the
modern workplace.

New data
released by Getty Images shows that web traffic for imagery showing women in
engineering careers is significantly increasing. The number of people
searching “women + STEM” imagery has risen by 526 per cent in the past year
alone.

Fiona
Pargeter, JLR’s global PR communications director, said: “We have always
championed women in the car business and are committed to inspiring more girls
and women to consider careers in engineering and manufacturing. Our female
workforce has grown from nine to 11 per cent over the past four years due to
our focused STEM initiatives. But this is still far too low – businesses being
proactive about using realistic imagery is one of the many ways that we can
attract the bright minds we need into STEM careers.”

Michelle
Mortiboys, vehicle line director, JLR Special Vehicle Operations, said: “Here
at Jaguar Land Rover we need the diversity of skills that women bring to ensure
we thrive and maintain our competitive edge for years to come. It is well
known that gender diversification in business is not just healthy culturally
but also propels progressiveness and innovation. Our partnership with Getty
Images is not just about recruiting women into engineering, it’s a small part
of the work that needs to be done to upscale female employees in the automotive
sector as a whole.”